What happens when you cook with a lot of oil? Magic. Because oil conducts heat much more efficiently than air, foods that are confited in it, like these chicken thighs, come out incredibly moist and infused with the oil’s flavor.

Recipe Preparation

Toss chicken thighs, lemon slices, fennel seeds, 4 rosemary sprigs, and 2½ tsp. salt in a large bowl to combine, then season generously with pepper. Cover and chill at least 12 hours and up to 1 day.

Let chicken come to room temperature, 20–25 minutes.

Place racks in top and middle of oven; preheat to 275°. Arrange potatoes and onions in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot and season with salt. Transfer chicken mixture to pot, scraping in any stray fennel seeds, and arrange chicken thighs, skin side up, over potatoes and onions in a single layer (it will be a tight squeeze). Pour in 4 cups oil. It should come to just over the top of the chicken; if the pieces aren’t quite submerged, add the additional ½ cup oil. Cover pot and place on middle rack in oven. Bake chicken, adding remaining rosemary sprigs after 1 hour, until meat is very tender but not quite falling off the bone, 2–2½ hours. Let sit until pot is cool enough to handle, 25–30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat broiler. Use tongs to carefully remove chicken from pot and place, skin side up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer potatoes to baking sheet, arranging around chicken. Broil until chicken skin and potatoes are browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Let rest 5–10 minutes on baking sheet.

While chicken and potatoes are under the broiler, transfer onions, lemon slices, and rosemary to a platter. Strain oil through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring glass.

Use a fork to lightly smash potatoes, revealing some of their creamy interior. Season with more salt. Transfer chicken and potatoes to platter with reserved onions, lemon slices, and rosemary sprigs. Drizzle with some of the strained oil (save the rest for another use).

Do Ahead: Chicken can be baked (but not broiled) 2 days ahead. Let cool in oil, then chill.

Recipe by Claire Saffitz

Reviews Section

Reviews

Two hours at 275 deg F is nowhere near high enough of a time/temp combo to bring this mass of food to 185 deg F and cook through the onions, potatoes and chicken. At one hour in we increased the oven temp to 285. Teo hours in we took it up 350 and then cooked the mix a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes. At that point the chicken internal temp was 185. We let it rest and followed the remaining directions. Onions were way too firm, potatoes barely done, whole garlic cloves we added still bitey and not soft. Something is very wrong with the time and temp on the original recipe. Perhaps a minimum of four to four and a half hours at 275 would work but why bother if 325 or 350 from the start would get it done in 3 hours? As mentioned we added 1 peeled whole clove of garlic per thigh. It needs it! Delicious with lots of careful watching from experienced cooks. Not for novices.

Chicago10/15/18

First off - if you’ve never used fennel seeds before, please try them beforehand. That’s basically all you’re going to taste and if you don’t like it, you’re going to be disappointed.
This was my first time trying confit and I followed the recipe to the letter (except with a pan change since I don’t have a Dutch oven yet). The recipe itself was simple and the everything was cooked really well. The chicken was moist, the skin was flavorful and the potatoes were flavorful. If the take of the fennel seed had been replaced, we would’ve loved it.
I’ll be using this basic confit recipe for the next time I try out the technique.
Note: if you have an oven with a high and low broiler, use it on high for this recipe. I did it on low because high heat makes me nervous and it didn’t come out nearly as crispy.

FramframMiami, FL04/12/18

Super delicious and easy to prepare. Perfect and fancy enough for a dinner party. Can get it going and do everything else or chat and relax with friends.

celestinagSan Diego12/23/17

Hi, Alabama,
It is called confit for a reason. All fat and oil isn't consumed, just cooked in it. It's surely isn't a Weight Watchers choice, for sure!

AnonymousNapa12/01/17

That's a LOT of oil. I'd opt for something more cardio friendly.

Alabama11/30/17

This was excellent chicken was tender and skin crispy and flavorful. Easy to make maker a nice Sunday dinner.